"A household located in north London wants to find an exceptional and qualified tutor to support their most junior child on his early path to turning into an British gentleman."
Looking at this advertisement, you might easily overlook the wording "first-steps" as simple figurative language.
Yet, it might be the most important aspect of this unique employment listing, as it aims to recruit a teacher for a 12-month-old.
Hundreds of submissions have since been received since the anonymous family published their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "a uniquely qualified person".
Over the last few weeks, the post has attracted notice across the press, with numerous asking why?
Innovative Idea
Adam Caller, CEO and founder of an education consultancy, which is supporting the family in their search, said that notwithstanding first scepticism, he considered the concept "far sighted", and "innovative".
When he spoke with the family, he noted they recognized the atypical nature of their request, and how immature their son is.
Nevertheless, they stated that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to engage a tutor, as they had held off until their firstborn was five, and by that point "cultural bias had by then set in".
What precisely does the family indicate by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", the expert replied. "The way you eat, the way you speak".
He said the older sibling had absorbed "really subtle, body language" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family explained to Adam they wished to avoid history to happen again with their younger child.
The plan: To engage a British tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby from the very start.
Osmotic Learning
"A great deal of the learning at the start here is kind of absorbed naturally," explained the CEO.
It's via this subtle influence that the family are aiming the child will acquire the English characteristics they wish to impart.
He noted the tutor must be an individual who studied at "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The tutor must be the appropriate candidate, they'll be doing things they don't even know they're doing, just naturally," he commented.
Money No Object
The family told the expert the chosen tutor should preferably also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, alpine skiing, creative fields and musical activities so as to influence the child in a diverse set of hobbies.
Additionally though, he stated the family wanted the tutor to register the child on a range of classes so the child would be "horseback riding and picking up an musical instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's minds, guiding their son develop into a "British gentleman" will result in success and provide access.
"For all the rights and wrongs of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he adds.
But, in spite of all this tutelage in "Britishness", might the child pick up alleged cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he resides with anyway?
"Absolutely", answered he. "The family know this might not succeed, but they've simply adopted the attitude of, 'we should try and we should start as early as we can', because the cost of it is irrelevant," he explained.
Overly Optimistic
Several in the education sector who have similar reservations.
Another CEO, CEO and founder of an educational organization, who also offer private tutors, stated that "the journey of embracing two identities, or in fact, becoming oneself, is something that must be grown into, not designed."
He noted that he had relocated from the Far East to the Britain at the time of seven, and had been brought up understanding and embodying both cultures. He went on to be educated at Cambridge University.
"The idea that an individual can function as a living vessel of Britishness, someone who can in some way impart the attributes of a British gentleman upon a one-year-old child, appears optimistic and impractical," he commented.
"Based on my background, having a typically English tutor from babyhood will not automatically create the outcome they desire.
"I did not have such a figure, and however I have been lucky enough to live many of the experiences they hope for their son."
He continued: "The fact is, personal identity can not be dictated from the external environment; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Purchasing UK Culture
Certainly, Britishness is something the CEO thinks can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I believe the reality that the global community views us in this light is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
